Best Of 2018: Albums Through July

Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer- The revenge, and the equalizing, of the black American woman starts with Brian Wilson harmonies and ends by denouncing institutionalized racism. In between, the album is the leap forward Monae has been promising since her first EP: a dive into electronic pop and the strife of a bi-sexual, black woman, like a single Beyonce, battling forward to be seen and heard. This is 2018 and this is a celebration of “black girl magic”

K.T.S.E. – Teyana Taylor – Held together by two slabs of crossover r&b and given a greater depth by a Tupac poem, the eight song Kanye West produced reality star’s sex jams with a better sound album wins nearly every single time

Juliana Daugherty – Light – This might well be the best album of the week, either this or Kanye. A low, melodic hum of despair that should be ethereal, the melodies should disappear and they simply don’t -this is a time for two things: multi tracked hip hop and women as indie pop quiet yet hard. Light’s a perfect variant on the latter

Soccer Mommy – Clean – Sophie Allison can write a song and these ten songs in a fast clipped 34 minutes are understated but angry, they seem like whispered threats at a romance like, as Allison puts it, a dog on a leash: it has been a week full of mediocre singer songwriter tropes, but this is one that works through a single minded blueness. “Still clean” is the best song of the week, “Your Dog” and “Last Girl” are pretty great as well

Kanye West – ye – At a scant seven songs and 23 minutes, Kanye has little room for mistakes and doesn’t make any, especially on “No Mistakes” with soul man Charlie Wilson, but then again why not when being bi-polar gives him superpowers on “Yikes”. At seven songs in length all seven songs lead the most streamed in the country and while there is no obvious hit, “Ghost Town” comes real close. Kid Cudi, Francis And The Lights and Benny Blanco are all over it,so though there is something slight about it, there is nothing slighted

Sorry To Bother You: The Soundtrack – The Coup -Boots Reily’s soundtrack to his well hyped movie of the same name would be great if only for the doubtless greatest Prince steal, homage, ever “Whathegirlmuthafuckinwannadoo” -a song so wonderful only “Crazy, Classic Life” is better -the Janelle Monae song… Janelle is on “Over And Over/Sticky Sunrise” as well as “Girl”. Tune-Yards joins Boots on the calypso dream song “Hey Saturday Night,” and Killer Mike is on the most Coup-ish song on the album “monsoon”. But there isn’t anything approaching a weak track on this brilliant pop album. A modern masterpiece

May Your Kindness Remain – Courtney Marie Andrews – I’m late to this one (it was released in March) and so what? A magnificent, downlow, misery loves loneliness classic, beautifully sung. The title track is other worldly – A-

Scorpion – Drake – If he boiled this down from 25 to 7 songs it would be the album of the year, and if he went from a double, one side rap, the other side r&b, to 12 songs mix and match, it would be a masterpiece. But this is a different another double that would make a good single in that there is no songs that are filler and it maintains its balance throughout and just goes on too long. And if you’re into rubbernecking, he bows out with a terrific song for his newly minted son

Cardi B – Invasion Of Privacy – The kick is that she doesn’t have flow and sounds as though she is reading, which leads to suspicions she doesn’t write her own rhymes. Perhaps, but then tell me why song for song this is the best hip hop album of the year? You know the singles and there is even better here, “Best Life” with Chance The Rapper and the Peter Rodriguez inspired, Bad Bunny and J Balvin featured “I Like It” are standouts in an album of standouts. If you take off the singles, the album is a brisk 35 minutes and is better for its leaness. And the dreaded “Finesse” is MIA. The album is less a singular vision and more pictures in an exhibition of her life, and that should be enough

John Prine – The Tree of Forgiveness – The great folk singer faces mortality and dusts off a late career masterpiece about the passing of time and telling his father that his father was wrong, for its ease and simplicity consider this one of the greats.

Parquet Courts – Awake! – I never much cared for producer Danger Mouse or Velvety wannabes Parquet courts but put them together and you get a very strong album, they seem to have emerged from the drone that battled them and written some extremely strong songs here… best title? “Freebird II,” best arrangement “Total Football”

May Your Kindness Remain – Courtney Marie Andrews – I’m late to this one (it was released in March) and so what? A magnificent, downlow, misery loves loneliness classic, beautifully sung. The title track is other worldly

A$AP Rocky – TESTING – The thing about Rocky, and we’ve known it for awhile, he is an artist using sound as a canvas… not unlike Frank Ocean on “Purity,” the brilliant conclusion to this musical continuation into sample heaven and strange, druggy sounds, where the rap of Trap doesn’t exist.

Children of Paradise – Willie Nile – “The seeds of revolution are planted in my heart” Willie sings, channeling Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen at the same time, and so it continues with a brilliant collection of punk-folk attitude songs, politically astute and sweet and sour at the same time as he adds the subjective to the objective

The Weeknd – My Dear Melancholy, – Abel’s old school break up EP goes back to his Trilogy start but with cannier skills. At 21 minutes in length you can put it on repeat and every song will kick in in time

Playboy Carti – Die Lit – This is state of the art rap, a mumbly druggy fashion slurred out snapshot, with big time featured artists (that means you, Lil Uzi vert) , and Nicki Minaj providing the best moment on “Poke It Out” and if repetition is the god of hooks, Playboy Carti is the king of repetition on these sticky pop slams

Ephorize – cupcakKe – The easy answer is cupcakke is a modern day Millie Jackson except a song like “Wisdom Teeth” is straight up flow rappin’ and rhymin’… on the other hand “Tap the head of the dick, duck duck duck goose, head of the dick, duck duck duck goose, get that dick up and runnin’ when he fuck this cooch covered in all my cum the dick be lookin’ like a goose”. Over fifteen tracks only four are explicit, which means the Chicago rapper is developing, but man, they are filthy dirty. “Crayons” is as great a song as the LGBTQ deserves

Beach House – 7 – More of the same dreamscape shoegaze but every here and there they capture lightning in a bottle, “Drunk In LA” and “Dive” are gorgeous, and “Lose Your Smile” is like Brian Wilson as performed by a snail

I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Sessions – Santigold – One of the three best albums of the week. Santigold is more comfortable with sound, a bemused subgenre hopping soulful playfulness with a heart of iron and a rhythm all over the place, if 99 cents was a lunge for pop supremacy, the Gold Fire Sessions is a much calmer affair but still very good

The Blues Is Alive And Well – Buddy Guy – As living symbols of a genre go, Buddy Guy is to BB King what Tony Bennett is to Frank Sinatra, only worse live. On record that ain’t true where the 81 year old teaches whippersnappers Jeff Beck and Keith Richards a thing or two, and the Mick Jagger featured on harmonica song would have made sense on Blue And Lonesome. This sure don’t sound like a swan song and if he played his delta blues this well on stage, he might become the BB King of BB king

The Old Guys – Amy Rigby – An old school rock sound, less so country but country is still there, as good at slow songs as up-tempo, with one immensely skillful tune after another, this is Amy’s best since Diary Of A Mod Housewife,… but then so are the rest. This woman can simply write great songs, it’s a gift and she has it. Here Amy deals with aging head on, and also a question that must plague her: “Is persistence just the opposite of luck?”

Young Fathers – Cocoa Sugar – This is a week where I wish I had two best albums of the week. Young Fathers sophomore effort is a strange neo-r&b soul, electronic pan-everything beauty of an album quasi rap but rap and more, “See How” is so great it’s ridiculous

Kendrick Lamar – Black Panther The Album Music From And Inspired By – Kendrick curates and performs on four tracks and it all has that Kendrick touch, hard yet serious. Jay Rock and Future are on one of the best songs of the year so far, the SZA duet made a complete believer of me, and Schoolboy Q needs no introduction

Various Artists – African Scream Contest 2 (Analog Africa No. 26) – “DJ and researcher Samy Ben Redjeb and his label, Analog Africa. Founded in 2006 and with 28 releases to date, the label functions as a trail through the footnotes of Western African music and its biggest (and often forgotten) players.”.Pretty excellent rock and dance and Africa sounds, from the terrific label. This one is ace

Tom Rush – Voices – The great 77 year old folkie joins Willie Nelson and John Prine in the late career masterpiece rolls on this splendid country folk album, everything is terrific and the bookends, “Elder Green” and “Voices” are the best of the best, and the “Corina Corina” is worthy

Leon Bridges – Good Thing – I am not keen on neo-soul recordings, even the late great Sharon Jones worked best on stage, but the problem has been the songs not the singer, and the songs here are so great it smashes Bridges out into the best of the genre. Plus, “Beyond” is one of the best songs of the year

2 Chainz – The Play Don’t Care Who Makes It EP – Four songs, all great and I’m not even a big 2 Chainz fan, plus “Proud” -with YG and Offset, is not only one of Offset’s best moments of the year (and remember, he is a third of the new Migos brick), but also: how often do you hear a song about trying to make momma proud?

Joan As Police Woman – Damned Devotion – Did you know that the Joan in question, Joan Wasser, used to date Jeff Buckley? I didn’t mostly because she has never been quite good enough to maintain my interest, maybe I didn’t give her the time. The lead single here, “Tell Me” changed that, and this is a terrific, soulful, white soul rebels of an album. It kept my attention and while I think there is something missing from the mix, I am not sure if it makes any difference because just about everything is quite good enough. A luminous, lovely, thriller of an album where Joan gets her disco on but only just

Sasha Sloan – sad girl – You’ve heard Sasha on Kygo’s “This Town” and Odesza’s “Falls,” co-writing for everyone from Charli XCX (“Track 10”) to Camila Cabello (“Never Be The Same”), the latter is a masterpiece and while here the 22 year old is performing singer songwriter tropes, she has the same voice in her inner ear, try lead off cut “Normal

Caroline Rose – LONER – At its best when at its lightest, “Bikini” is my jam, at its worse it is pure pop electronic with attitude and smarts

Dan + Shay – Dan + Shay – This country duo won’t change your life but they are consistently intelligent lyrically, simple and sweet love songs like “Speechless” or clever rhymes like “Tequila,” on top of sturdy country structures and rock solid melodies, that moves between close harmony and background singing. No more, certainly no less

Boys – Rest In Peace – Indie and girls, it’s happening man. Unfortunately, my dislike for Angel and Julien left me late to the party, but Big Thief and Soccer Mom broke through and this is a fuzzed out blissed out album that reminds me of some ROIR band with the funkiness surgically removed… via Stockholm so you gotta think

Lil Xan – TOTAL XANARCHY – Mumble rap and good stuff as well, this is the way drug music should sound, so fucked up it can barely stand, it woozes into other planet

Beach House – 7 – More of the same dreamscape shoegaze but every here and there they capture lightning in a bottle, “Drunk In LA” and “Dive” are gorgeous, and “Lose Your Smile” is like Brian Wilson as performed by a snail

The Blues Is Alive And Well – Buddy Guy – As living symbols of a genre go, Buddy Guy is to BB King what Tony Bennett is to Frank Sinatra, only worse live. On record that ain’t true where the 81 year old teaches whippersnappers Jeff Beck and Keith Richards a thing or two, and the Mick Jagger featured on harmonica song would have made sense on Blue And Lonesome. This sure don’t sound like a swan song and if he played his delta blues this well on stage, he might become the BB King of BB king

KIDS SEE GHOSTS – KIDS SEE GHOSTS – Kanye West and Kid Cudi work through their mental illness to find a modicum of ease by the end

Liberation – Christina Aguilera – The ballads suck, the rockers rock, and the two with Kanye West are excellent. “Sick Of Sittin'” is one of the best things she has ever done, and the one with Demi Lovato reminds you who is still boss

International Artist – A Boogie Wit da Hoodie – A Boogie, one of the r&b hip hop good guys, recently appeared at the Hip Hop Latin American crossover show at Barclays center, and here he uses his expertise to include Latin Trap, Dance Hall, and more, on this 26 minute album. Highlights include Jessie Reyez on “Pretending” and Tory Lanez on “Best Friend,” but it is all really good

Freddie – Freddie Gibbs – “2 Legit” is fabulous, the gangsterisms stick, the trapisms are because, hey, a man’s gotta eat, but the rapping is so good he makes sense of those who consider him the best in the business… it can get a touch obvious

Ghostface Killah – The Brown Tape – According XXL: “,Ghost dropped the concept album, 2 Reasons to Die, with Adrian Younge in 2013. Frequent collaborator Brown then put together an alternate version of the LP titled The Brown Tape, which featured an almost identical tracklist and all new beats. The new version was released on streaming sites but would later be removed. Last month, Mello Music Group revealed they would be re-releasing the project January 25th. ” According to Ken Shane: “As far from Kendrick as you can get but nearly as cool”

Windows II – HUNNY – Lead singer Jason Yarger has three Brand New (the band, not the adjective) tattoos, which makes the alt rockers emo but not really, and on this five song EP they make the case of being a brand new big deal, “Rebel Red” is the best but there is no weak spot

Palo Santo (Deluxe) – Years & Years – 20 Gay Teen poster boy synth poppers, it can take a little while to warm up but give em a chance and even “Sanctify” will reveal itself

21st Century Liability – YUNGBLUD – To steal a description off Triple J (here) “bratty mix of pop-punk, hip-hop, ska, and cheeky attitude”. Yes, and it is all fun and more, and “Die For The Hype” is a spectacularly great number

A Place To Bury Strangers – Pinned – If you must listen to shoegaze and MBV are still playing hard to get, this adds goth to the mix with a constantly gorgeous barely contained horror in the face of the closing of Death By Audio

Camila Cabello – Camila – The former Fifth Harmony has played her hand as well as Zayn Malik, and while some of this is a bore, its best moments, the potential song of the winter “Never be The Same” for one and the Cuban- American theme song “Havana” among them, is sky high

Natalie Prass – The Future And The Past – Natalie goes Motown, and she has the voice for it and she has the songs for it on this terrific sophomore album. A widescreen funkiness that in a different time and place might have made her a superstar

Ski Mask The Slum God – BEWARE THE BOOK OF ELI EP – The Broward county movement is growing up, so while “BUKKAKE” is exactly what you think Ski Mask would be doing if you ever saw him live (though the sample is better than that), “SUICIDE SEASON” is danker and darker than you might believe possible. Once Ski figures out what he is actually doing as a uniformed whole, he will be a biggie

Ares – Arcangel- If the last couple of modern reggaeton and Latin Trap albums have made the entire scene feel overextended, this one won’t as Arcangel goes from reggaeton to salsa and back. You may remember him as half of Arcángel & De la Ghetto, but that was ten years ago and Ares, his sixth release (he was a dozen mixtapes as well) though too long at over an hour, is state of the art pop Latin style

Still Run – Wet – The title track is the best song of the week and the alt popsters are soulful and sweet with Kelly Zutrau’s lovely and plain but feelingful vocals and a mood that is soft without being weak and a core of drums that keep you awake. Romance gone wrong is always the main currency of pop music and here is a consistent woe that underplays its hand and draws you in

That’s A Girls Name – DRAM – Dram’s real name is Shelley Marshaun Massenburg-Smith, which, you know, is a girl’s name. I’ve seen Dram give the bests set every single time I’ve seen him perform, always a touch too much autotuned but Dram is soulful he cheerfuls us through it – B+

Full Circle – Eddie Palmieri – The salsa great re-records some of his hits and they couldn’t sound better

Birds in Row – We Already Lost The World – Frenchcore if you want, this is high octane melodic hardcore, they sing in English to reach a larger audience and with songs as rip your head off as “Remember Us Better Than We Are,” they and you should do

Gene Clark Sings For You – Gene Clark – 14 unreleased songs by the late former Byrd and proof, if it was needed, that the man could write a song

he Tree – Lori McKenna – The country songwriter is a classicist with a good story and sometimes a good song, about family, romance, and growing older, “People Get Older” is excellent. The songs could be a touch stronger

Redemption – Jay Rock – In a busy period for hip hop, Jay could get lost in the shuffle though “Wow Freestyle” with Kendrick Lamar certainly shouldn’t, and the entire clear eyed life after near death deserves nothing but attention, start with “The Bloodiest,” then try the single “King’s Dead” and next the SZA featured title track

U.S. Girls – In a Poem Unlimited – Of all those gender fluid, lilith-y performers, all the Courtneys and Angel Olsem , U.S> Girls don’t much fit because their sound is so gorgeous, dynamic, and strong. This is their second killer album in a row amd if you hang out for ten songs you’ll get personal best “Poem”

Joan Baez – Whistle Down The Wind – If this is to be Joan’s final release, it is a fine one. Some of the top songwriters of today, including Tom Waits, beautifully interpreted and sent off by the heardtrending nothing changes “I Wish The Wars Were All Over” traditional

Sango – In The Comfort Of – Neo R&B and the kitchen sink on this first rate collection of electronic soul music. “Life Without God Is Nothing” may well be the song of the week, the rap is nicely integrated, the hooks hook, the mood maintains, this isn’t Gospel but it is faith oriented music and the producer works magic on one quiet beat after another. In conversation he drops Frank Ocean’s name and you can hear why, you can also hear why it took him over three years to complete

Various Artists – Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s – An ace compilation according to Steve Crawford, I’m no SC but I like it fine

Hive Mind – The Internet – The best alt-r&b band around, The Internet, lead by Syd, travel through subgenres with ease from neo-soul to smooth jazz all with a funky underbelly on their sophomore effort. “Come Over” is less hot at more summer breezy late night groove thing and the best of this consistently excellent mood enhancer in a laid back way

Make My Bed -EP – King Princess – The year of the queer identified continues, Troye finds the dance on the teenage dancefloor but King Princess is more electronic mood music on this extremely strong EP, try “Talia”

Superchunk – What a Time to Be Alive – Not as good as the standard bearer, Majestic Shedding, but better than the last couple. Apparently a reaction to the Trump Presidency (they don’t like it) and it rings like a punk pop bell (and Mac McCaughan still sounds like a whiny teenager)

TA13OO – Denzel Curry – Underground rapper takes on all comers with a statement album about how difficult life can be when you have a top flow, try “Percs”, the best of a great lot

Chief Keef – The Glofiles (Pt 1 and 2) – I don’t see why there is any reason for Pt 1 to be driller and darker than vol 2 but it is… Chief Keef is a huge influence on modern rap and on Vol 1 you can absolutely hear why

Anne- Marie – Speak Your Mind – The Rudimental singer on her own with a world class modern pop song album, “Cry” and “Perfect” need no excuse from me for existing, but everything here is great dance pop and some of it is more

Wiley – Godfather II – Speaking of rapping terrific bars, “Bar” is a lot of fun, “Crash” is where EDM pop meets rap, “Been A While” has a great flow, and Wiley stakes his claim to Stormzy’s crown of grime

Willie Nelson – Last Man Standing – I have never been much of a Willie Nelson fan, the one time I saw him live he put me to sleep, and when he gets his hands on a ballad he won’t let go however much you might pay hm. Here is an exception, at 85 years of age he sounds better than he did at 45 and the powerful and umph of his swing is entirely undeniable

Loreena McKennitt – Lost Souls – pure pre-Dylan folk, sounds kinda olde English though Loreena is Canadian, This is the real deal so tuck in

Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley: The Searcher (The Original Soundtrack) – From the HBO movie that I have yet to watch, and there is nothing much here to bother the big time fan, except a 1960 over of the Gospel classic”Milky White Way” that is simply adorable

Camp Cope – How to Socialise & Make Friends – From Australia, where indie escapes from its Western jail and flourishes, this sophomore effort isn’t as good as people claim, mostly because Georgia Maq’s vocals grate after awhile, but it includes, “The Opener” and “Anna” -t… and maybe you’d whinge if you were a teen in Australia

Mount Eerie – Now Only – Last year’s A Crow Looked At Me made art where there is no art from the devastated loss as his 35 year old wife died from cancer, Now Only continues his life as he raises his daughter and raises his head. More of the same, though “Now Only” is actually catchy and pretty (the chorus goes: “people get cancer and die”)

Bali Baby – Baylor Swift EP- As clever as the album title and twice as funny, this is a nursery rhyme rap for easy going fun styled pop dreamers. At 26 minutes in length, all of it is ace and the back to back “Candy” and “WWW” are even better than that

The Lovely Eggs – This Is Eggland – Wiggy giggy psychedelic fun and games by knockout duo of wide eyed jokesters who mean it, always great all the way to “Would You fuck”

NASIR – Nas – The fourth of the GOOD Music seven song releases is as concentrated an art as you will ever hear. On both Pusha T and Nas here, Kanye’s production is reminiscent of the way Rick Rubin can boil a musician down to its essence. Nas’s politics is reminiscent of Chuck D up against the wall, I mean dissing Abe Lincoln might not be as big as dissing Elvis Presley… but it is close

03 Greedo – The Wolf Of Grape Street – Back in prison for TWENTY YEARS!, the prolific rapper has street cred to burn and is an LA legend with the tat on his forehead to prove it. Too much autotune for my tastes but this is as deeply musical as any rapper in the business this side of Ty even as he imagines the bars on the jail guitar doors spitting rhymes

Reshaped – Perfume Genius – I love this guy and all of these remixes are excellent, especially Blake Mills (I’m surprised as well) “Every Night” which is truly haunting… but really not a dud in sight

soil – serpentwithfeet – I’ve done nothing but rave about this r&b singer and would love to see him live, but what is so powerful as a single can get samey on his debut album. “bless your heart” is a masterpiece that slips past you on record and the first song, “whisper” is an arresting and well developed song with a chorus so beautiful you hold your breath and yet by the second time I lost it in the shuffle and had to move it to a playlist… still, a great neo-r&b study of deep and abiding romantic love

Bahamas – Earthtones – Superb one man band, Canada’s Afie Jurvanen dubs himself folk but is more digital master planner pop singer songwriter on this flawless album of first rate songs, try “Opening Act (The Shooby Dooby Song)” to start and then move on to “Way With Words,” though it is one of those albums where everything is great. Jurvanen is joined by first rate (D’Angelo’s) rhythm section drummer James Gadson and bassist Pino Palladino The funk is not what I would call funky, more like a groove on a pop moment but the songs are so strong strong everything adds to a complete picture of the man

Jeremih – The Chocolate Box EP – I have never been a big fan of Jeremih… until now. Over an entire album who bores me to tears and a chorus on a rap song? He doesn’t make his presence felt strongly enough. But this is excellent stuff, three of the four songs are among his best

Lake Street Dive – Free Yourself Up – This is an anomaly in that the slower songs are great and the rockers aren’t, and even so this is a fine album, Rachael Price is in great voice, “Good Kisser” is a great song, and when they rock out they rock out with authority

Post Traumatic – Mike Shinoda – “About You” is the best song the Linkin Park lead singer has ever recorded, and these songs of loss and continuity are deeply felt sad vibes, building a life after the suicide of a bandmate replete with Voicemail condolences

Smokepurpp – Bless Yo Trap – Smokepurpp is so bad live it is easy to forget that he is so great on record, this slurpy, slithery, drugged out album is the definable presence of mumble-rap or Soundcloud rap or whatever. I just love the way it sounds, forget meaning or interpretation or anything…

Jimi Hendrix – Both Sides Of The Sky – Tupac lived, died, had a second life with a mountain of unreleased material, and ran out of new material, and still Jimi is releasing albums. This collection of studio outtakes is a good, especially the two Steve Stills ones

Liz Phair – The Girly-Sound Tapes – I owned some of this on a boot, but the complete thing is a work of youthful greatness and A vivisection of teens having sex with consequences . Interesting that she already had “Whip Smart”

Blow Your Mind – Wilko Johnson – hardboiled UK blues rockers from the former Dr. Feelgood, and it is exactly what it is

Various Artists – Universal Love – Wedding Songs Reimagined – I am not sure changing the gender on classic pop songs works as well as the LGBTQ community want it to… However, Dylan singing “He’s Funny That Way” alone is worth the admission

Magic Gone – Petal – Rocking pleasantly enough, though with a hard center, Petal is Kiley Lotz, from Scranton. Pennsylvania, where I went for a wedding once and was shocked at how many roadside graves there were. That roadside grave is the mood here but the songs are pretty and poppy on her sophomore effort

Fall Out Boy – MANIA – The reason FOB feel slight is because they are slight, a mélange of emo meets EDM rock hitting the lowest common denominator 20 something world of pop, and hitting more often than not. They are Paramore for Playstation addicts. Fortunately, that doesn’t make for bad music, just not greet music. MANIA is a way competent chart heatseeker covering all bases, usually it works, sometimes it doesn’t

Hayley Kiyoko – Expectations – No wonder Taylor Swift stuck up for Hayley’s right to make same se love songs. This is a good album and though it doesn’t peak as high as “Girls Like Girls” it doesn’t meander but consistently hits or near misses the pleasure zone

Rae Sremmurd – SR3MM – 27 tracks… 27??? Nearly two hours of new music. And yet, whatever weakness the album has, it certainly isn’t consistency. This album doesn’t peak (and “Up In My Cocina” is certainly not “Black Beatle” even while substituting Paul McCartney for Mick Jagger) but it doesn’t crater either, you can’t start anywhere and play till anytime and it is all good

The Voidz – Virtue – It might not be great but it is better than anything Julian has done since his eponymous solo album, a real wide ride of brain expanding psychedelic and electronic and really good when he remembers to write a song… and that is often enough

Bill Frisell – Music IS – The terrific jazz guitarist who you may know from his wonderful recording The Sweetest Punch is at the top of his game on this self-explanatory immersion in solo acoustic guitar –

Boys Noize – Strictly Raw, Vol. 2 – The German wunderkind DJ and the absolute king of House is dealing with pure beats here and it is a primer in everything EDM has lost over the years: distinctively and crazy rhythms ping pong off each other till settling into a groove and then stopping… I read where his next release is with RL Grimes, stay tuned

AWOLNATION – Here Come the Runts – Electronic rock band have had a good run this decade and this is a s good as the best, nearly every song is memorable, and it moves from one instantly addictive melody to another

Dear Nora – Skulls Example – A first rate folkie pop album from the West Coast band reform from the 00s, with catchy hooks and good lyrics, the more straightforward it is the better, the first four songs are amazing, and “White Fur” sounds like Jackson Browne -no, really, but then it spaces out

Jonathan Davis – Black Labyrinth – The Korn lead singer has released a towering album of unique hard rock, the simpler the better and sometimes it is too Korn-y, the first single “Walk On By” was just that, but at its best it is an important and different way to play – B+

Juice WRLD – Goodbye & Good Riddance – Excellent break up album, a slice of life that is pretty damn tough, taking Chicago Drill with the emo of Mumble Rap, and without rap’s swagger. “Lucid Dream”? “All The Girls Are The Same”? “Hurt Me”? All of those are aces on this powerful heartbreaker

Peach Kelli Pop – Gentle Leader – This is still the relentlessly genius Allie Hanlon as the gentlest of leaders though Peach Kelli Pop are now a band and the album is consistent and sweet pop punk shading into girl group here and there

Pusha T – DAYTONA EP – This took awhile to kick in but the George Jackson sample on “Come Back Baby” absolutely did the job, and while I’m at it, the Pitchfork review by Paul A. Thompson did what I want reviews to do, got me past the bumps: “It’s like an album full of “Bound 2”s, without the sentimentality”

James Bay – Electric Light – James has made a move to the pop charts as a sort of refracted Bryan Ferry (or at least Brett Anderson) but it might be too old fashioned to fashion itself hot beyond cult, and judging by “Pink Lemonade,” that’s a real shame

Kelly Willis – Back Being Blue – Old school country album, with top notch songs, great guitar playing, a lot of swing and a lot of soul

Kevin Gates – Chained To The City EP – Three songs, all excellent in a perfect case of less is more. Especially the lead off “Change Lanes”,” an introverted banger. This is his return from prison and it is worth the wait -a major move from the Louisiana native

KYLE – Light Of Mine – I thought “iSpy” was Lil Yachty’s business, but after hearing this tremendous r&b cum hip hop album, I gotta assume KYLE is the man behind it. This is one sparkling soul groove after another reaching a zenith with the Alessia Cara featured “Babies”

Tracyanne & Danny – Tracyanne & Danny – You know Tracyanne from Camera Obscura and these lovely pop ballads have the ethereal in their DNA and yet are so solid as to not be ephemeral -it clings to you – B

Wooden Shjips – V. – The songs are too long but what do you expect from a psychedelic jam band from San Fran? Whatever you expect you’ll get plus huge melodies that they just can’t hide – B

Roxy: Tonight’s the Night Live – Neil Young – Out of the studio and onto the stage in 1973- I saw him do something similar with Harvest Moon – he seems in a good mood but the junkie miserableness of the set hasn’t changed

Old Crow Medicine Show – Volunteer – If you must listen to roots rockers, these guys are the ones to check out. Their tour behind their front to back cover of Blonde On Blonde was first rate, and here we have a mix of bluegrass and Americana and it is nothing but a pleasure

Pennywise – Never Gonna Die – The Cali punk band have been going for decades and as first releases in a decade go, this is flawless power punk with a great lead singer and twisted, hooky, politically astute rockers

Matt Whipkey – Driver – Matt, a rock star if that word means anything anymore, has driven for both Lyft and Uber, and has taken the stories shared and switched idioms, for this deep green and red classic rock album, amazingly consistently, constantly entertaining and enlightening, sometimes destructive, always dazzling songs. “Marian Kowalski, Dec 1994,” “Fred, You’re Dead,” and “Coal Mine” followed by “Winter Tires,” are highlights, “Drive My Car” is just looking for trouble

Kodak Black – Heart Break Kodak (HBK) – vicious little Kodak on romance, no, really, make up, break up, beat up, move on… this is a strange pleasure vibe on really troubled romance as he sings as much as raps and doesn’t kill any one, and as late as the 16th song, the wittily called “When Vultures Cry” he is still invested in it

Bettye LaVette – Things Have Changed – – The great blues cover artist is at her best with Dylan, where you loves him enough to give his songs true interpretations. From the title track to “Going, Going, Gone,” Bettye ranges through his entire landscape of Dylan’s catalog with exceptional results

Ben Howard – Noonday Dream – UK surfer dude who performs singer songwriter mood music, can get a little tedious but on a song like “A Boat To An Island On The Wall” -an electronic mindfuck, he rewards patience

Big Freedia – 3rd Ward Bounce EP – Overwhelming hardcore dance beats over declarative vocals and the purest, melody less hi energy disco thrills, the title track has to be heard to be believed

The Fratellis – In Your Own Sweet Time – Has it been over a decade since Costello Music? Well, this is a rock solid pop rock album and their most accomplished to date. The Fratellis might not have much ambition but they have good will and high spirits to burn here

Sunflower Bean – Twentytwo in Blue – That rarest of sophomore efforts, the one that improves on the first with toghter, better written songs.

The Oak Ridge Boys – 17th Avenue Revival – Producer Dave Cobb has worked with every major country contemporary superhero from Jason Isbell to Chris Stapleton and here he Rick Rubins the Oak Ridge Boys spirituals

Yellow Claw – Amsterdam Trap Music, Vol. 3 – Some of the best trap beats I’ve heard all year, I wonder why they haven’t made a fortune selling em to Atlanta rappers

Night Owl EP – Jessi Mason – Terrific singer songwriter who nails all six songs, especially the one about understanding herself and the one about getting Joni Mitchell

Big Star – Live At Lafayette’s Music Room – Memphis, TN – The birth of Big Star as critics darlings (opening for Archie Bell And The Drells) in 1973, songs off #1 Record, songs not yet on Radio City, and some strong covers. Thus are legends born

Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac (Deluxe) – A coupla years past the Cali Mac revival spearheaded by Dawes, here comes the remastered first shot from the soft rock Mac, first album remastered, second album filled with early takes (proving how fully formed the songs were), and finally live tracks from their 1975 tour. Hang around for a late “Oh Well”

Frank Zappa and The Mothers – The Roxy Performances (Live) – From December 1973, this is a definitive exploration of prime Zappa live, if you want to know what all the fuss is about binge listen this, this is Miles Davis good. I’m not a huge Zappa fan, but wow he was on some wild musically plateau we ain’t caught up with yet. The best bit? That “Be-Bop Tango” is completely bonkers

Nina Simone – The Colpix Singles – 27 songs from the start of her career to just before she hit it big

Andrew Lloyd Webber – Unmasked: The Platinum Collection (Deluxe)- This is an odd greatest hit, from Boyzone to Barbra Streisand,it is linked to his memoir but doesn’t follow his career trajectory as written about in Unmasked (which ends with Phantom).Still, it’s nice to hear the best (more or less -three songs from “Aspects Of Love” at the end -just… don’t) in one place